3D Festival interviews Andy Murdock, the artist behind "Lots of Robots"
By Leonard Teo, 22 November 2002

At a very young age, Andy Murdock was told that he was going to be an artist. The prediction seems to have stuck. The thirty-seven year old animator living in San Francisco is well known in CG circles for his work on the short film Lot’s of Robots (LOR). Andy graduated from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1987 where he studied painting, filmmaking and sound design. Since then, he has worked as a recording engineer at Hyde Street Studios and Earwax Productions. He’s also worked as a recording engineer on the Academy Award winning sound design for Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

It was in the recording studio where Andy was first introduced to Photoshop and Swivel 3D on a Mac II. In 1994, Andy was hired by Mondo Media to work on video games, broadcast and film projects. He’s also worked with Xaos, Inc. on a few Imax films and at PDI on The Peacemaker and research for the Antz sequel which never happened.

3D Festival was invited to Andy Murdock’s home animation studio in San Francisco, where we were treated to a full blast, surround sound screening of LOR on his home theater system. We catch up with Andy regarding his latest installment to LOR.

3D Festival: When did you start working on LOR?

Andy Murdock: My first short was called Rocket Pants. Rocket Pants started as a solo after hours project at my desk at Mondo Media. I was about two thirds finished when Mondo got a big infusion funding. Then I was able to work on the project full time. To be honest I liked it much better as a after hours effort. These animations are very personal creations and are better created in a safe, quiet home environment. That’s when I decided to get my own workstation at home. I wouldn’t have to ask permission to do anything, just come up with an idea and do it. Then came LOR.